IN AUSTRALIA PHILOLOGICALLY EXAMINED. 137 
Discussion. 
Rev. R. Cotiie, F.L.8., intimated that on looking over the 
paper he found that the name Alambar was included by Mr. 
MacPherson amongst aboriginal names, whereas it was an Indian 
word, having been the designation of a gentleman’s residence in 
India, who, havi ing finally settled in ag Colony near Glen Innes, 
called on name of his station Alamba 
e looked over carefully the cate paper, and examined it 
with the native names for water in Victoria, South Australia, and 
the Malay Archipelago. The study of Hebrew and the cognate 
ee Dette gave the impulse to Mr. MacPherson to take 
up ‘this ubject. Starting with the root-letters in the Hebrew 
word $e water, he tries to discover how many native names have 
the letters m or mb, mp, applied to water in rivers, creeks, lakes, 
lagoons, &c. Not only so, but the ancient langnages of the world - 
are hie consulted. Thus, the Pheenician “mu” for water, and 
the Egyptian, “me,” are taken into account. 
Reference is made to the names of streams in Australia in 
“emb,” “ gnb,” “kmb,” such as Wamba Ponds and Wallomba 
Brook. Similar words, says the author, are found in the languages 
of the Malay Archipelago. In looking over 59 words 
by Wallace, representin a as many languages for the word water, 
I find that there are only two which have the slightest resemblance 
to the above specimens, “manu” and “banyu.” Again, it ought 
to be remembered that the various languages of the natives of 
another. e natives of one side of a creek have a different 
language from those on the other side. Hence the difficulty to do 
any good to them by missionary enterprise, kc. Such being the 
generally accidental, and must not be pressed too much to support 
any theory. I fully expected to have found more words in the 
a oe of the Malay Archipelago for water with ‘“m-m” or 
n I did, as it is generally agreed that the aborigines 
came es the north, and must have lingered for some time among 
the islands of the Archipelago. I have ‘examined several vocabu. 
ies of the native tribes in South Australia, and have found 
nothing to lead me to suppose that the letters “m,” or “mb,” or 
anything to do with water. I have also examined the 
vocabularies of the native tribes of Victoria, as furnished by 
Smythe, with the same result. 
e method of consulting the various gazetteers in New South 
Wales for the meaning of native names is not to be commended. 
Names have been introduced which are ‘cio, &e., and are found 
in the gazetteer as native, and in one instance at least the writer 
